Chicago Architecture Biennial 2015: Tatiana Bilbao presents a flexible building prototype that gives a answer to Mexico’s social housing shortage for the duration of the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial .
The Mexican architect has designed a reduced-cost house that can be adapted to suit varying numbers of residents, and can be expanded as a household grows. It can also be altered to suit the variety of climates around the country, by making use of a assortment of supplies and spatial layouts.
In an unique interview, Bilbao stated there weren’t enough architects creating this kind of task in Mexico, even although the country’s housing shortage accounts for approximately nine million properties.
“The issue is there’s very small men and women contemplating of creating these things,” stated the architects, whose preceding tasks contain a rammed-earth property. “It really is actually a model that is very necessary. It is extremely urgent that these individuals get spaces with a small bit more good quality.”
The home model was commissioned by Mexico’s government as component of a programme that assists folks with reduced incomes to buy their own house, by subsidising half the expense and giving the rest as credit.
Bilbao and her staff have built a full-size prototype of her design inside the Chicago Cultural Center – the major venue for the initial Chicago Architecture Biennial, which opened to the public at the weekend.
The building has a rigid core of concrete blocks, whilst its surrounding rooms are produced up of modules of more lightweight materials such as wooden pallets.
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This allows the design to be easily adapted into various layouts. It also makes it possible for for a larger floor prepare than most social housing units, which typically have an region of 463 square feet (43 square metres) – the minimum federal requirement.
“When we were commissioned to design and style this model the very first thing in my thoughts was that I needed to give a lot more space for the same cash,” Bilbao advised Dezeen.
“The minimal amount of area necessary is 43 square metres, so all of the present models are 43 square metres,” she explained. “But these folks have room since they very own land, so they have room to have greater homes.”
“We employed a modular technique where not every little thing is finished with sturdy components, occasionally its accomplished with an industrial palette,” she continued. “So it has more room, and with quite considerably much less income.”
This is the 23rd property that Bilbao has created as part of the project. These 1st two have been constructed to show the design and style to the government, plus 20 a lot more have been completed for a separate client in the north of Mexico.
The overall aim is for as numerous as 3,000 to be built per year. So as part of her study, Bilbao spoke to above 2,000 present social housing residents to support realize what is considered most essential.
One of the items she located was that residents desires a house that “appears like a finished home”.
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“The total of Mexico is complete of these grey houses with steel bars left out on the flat roof,” she explained. “In the previous this meant that you were displaying prosperity, you were exhibiting that you had been looking forward to increasing. But correct now it really is a sign of failure.”
“So no one needs a flat roof anymore, they want a home that seems like a property.”
In its initial phase, Bilbao’s home contains two bedrooms, one particular bathroom, 1 kitchen and a 5-metre-large residing and dining room. Up to 5 extra bedrooms can be extra at a later on stage.
The prototype is one particular of four complete-sized homes that have been put in in the biennial exhibition, along with a modular residence by SelgasCano, a low-value property by Vo Trong Nghia and a light-filled timber property by MOS Architects.
Described by curators Sarah Herda and Joseph Grima as a “site of experimentation”, the demonstrate also characteristics a series of 18 tips for Chicago’s future.
Diagram 
Building configurations 
Mexican residing diagram 
Housing varieties diagram 
Ground and 1st floor strategies 
Cross sections 
Extended sections
